I believe the problem (at least in part) is that no coach wants to be the first to get off of the merry-go-round for fear of being left behind.

Yup.

Though none of those "verbals" are binding, it will be interesting to see what percentage of them stick by the time they're H.S. seniors and it's time to sign an LOI.

I agree that no coach wants to be the first to get off the merry-go-round. But Lafayette only just got on the merry-go-round. It probably wasn't even five years ago that Pard lax started recruiting in earnest anyone but seniors. Fifteen years ago we were still hoping (to a large extent) that maybe there were a couple kids in the incoming freshman class that might like to play lacrosse, or (at best) a few of them had put lacrosse as an "interest" or "activity" on their application.

Good point about Lafayette's recruiting history. There were times when I used to wonder (mostly in jest) if the team from my HS (11-time Maryland public school champions) could beat the Leopards.